Blocked shots: Kaiden Guhle among the NHL elite

When it’s time to score a goal, the Montreal Canadiens can count on Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky to take care of most of it.

When it comes to defensive play, David Savard is often the first to come to mind for the Montreal club.

But it’s not just Savard who stands out defensively.

You might think that the Quebecer leads the team in blocked shots, as this is one of his strengths. However, with just over 20 missed games, he’s not among the club’s top two in total.

Indeed, it’s young defenseman Kaiden Guhle who leads the way in this regard, with a grand total of 160 blocked shots in 60 games played.

This places him 7th in the entire NHL, according to StatMuse.

(Credit: StatMuse)

In front of him are Nick Seeler (PHI), Chris Tanev (DAL), Colton Parayko (STL), Jacob Trouba (NYR), Brayden McNabb (VGK) and Mario Ferraro (SJS).

As I mentioned earlier, Savard is not among the league’s elite in this respect, as the 22 games he missed hurt him.

However, there is one encouraging fact in this list, as it also includes Mike Matheson, ranked 26th in the NHL with a total of 131 blocked shots.

Rather surprising, I’d say, as Matheson and defense have never been a good mix, but he doesn’t seem afraid to get in front of a shot to help his team.

As for Savard, the Saint-Hyacinthe native has 116 blocked shots, which is the equivalent of 2.76 blocked shots per game. That’s pretty impressive, because it puts him 6th in the NHL, while Guhle is right behind him with 2.67 blocked shots per game.

(Credit: StatMuse)

Interestingly, Alex Martinez of the Vegas Golden Knights ranks first in blocked shots per game, with an incredible average of 3.38.

He was also the leader last season with an average of 3.17, a nice increase.

I invite you to take a look at the StatMuse site, which can pull up just about any statistic across the NHL, and even other professional leagues.

Seeing the Tricolore perform well in this regard may seem encouraging, but it could also mean that opponents are spending a lot of time in the Habs’ zone.

Either way, it clearly helps the goalkeepers down the line.